Dec 9, 2013 | Conservativism, Foreign Policy, History, mic, Political Ideologies, Race and Racism, Terrorism, World Affairs
Published: mic (December 9, 2013) Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney, and other paladins of the American right labeled Nelson Mandela a terrorist. While mainstream conservatives tend to renounce this characterization today, it still has currency in more ideologically zealous circles. Indeed, some people on Twitter are already tweeting away reiterations of the infamous "terrorist"...
Dec 4, 2013 | mic, Uncategorized
Published: mic (December 4, 2013) One day, in the not too distant future, conservatives will deeply regret their decision to use "Obamacare" as an epithet for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This isn't to say that the tactic isn't working right now. Although polls have consistently shown that an overwhelming majority of Americans supports the ACA's key provisions of the ACA, those same studies...
Dec 4, 2013 | Conservativism, Elections, Elections - Other, Gender and Sexism, Health Care Reform, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, President Obama, Republicans
Published: mic (December 4, 2013) I'm not sure which prospect is more frightening: That Obamacare's opponents are deliberately lying or that they believe their own bullshit. This isn't to say that the Affordable Care Act hasn't had its hiccups. Certainly there is no excuse for the technical incompetence that has plagued the website since its launch or for the president's dishonesty regarding...
Dec 4, 2013 | Asperger's Syndrome, Autobiographical, Love and Dating, Mental Illness, mic, Original Source Salon.com
Dec 3, 2013 | Conservativism, Democrats, Extremism, Liberalism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, President Obama, Republicans, Satirical Essays
Published: mic (December 5, 2013) It's all but official. The 113th Congress is the least productive federal legislature in American history, passing only 2% of all the bills that were introduced, an all-time low. How rare was it for legislation to pass Congress this year? So rare, that the following 15 rare things have happened with greater frequency than a bill getting through. 1. Giving birth...
Dec 2, 2013 | Criminal Justice/Prison-Industrial Complex, mic, Race and Racism
Published: mic (December 2, 2013) We need to keep Kalief Browder in the news. Back in May 2010, Browder was walking home from a party in the Bronx when a strange man suddenly accused him of being a thief. Before he knew it, he was under arrest and facing criminal charges. Because his family couldn't afford his $10,000 bail, Browder was forced to wait in jail until his trial. More than two years...
Nov 28, 2013 | Class Issues, Holiday Season, mic
Published: mic (November 28, 2013) As Americans plan on observing Black Friday, it's worth taking a few minutes to observe the origin of this infamous "holiday." Although the term "Black Friday" was initially coined in reference to an economic panic caused by financiers Jay Fiske and Stephen Gould on September 24, 1869, it was first used to refer to the shopping day immediately following...
Nov 27, 2013 | Class Issues, Holiday Season, mic, Millennials, Plutocracy
Published: mic (November 27, 2013) According to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation, nearly one in four Americans are willing to shop on Thanksgiving. Indeed, of the 33 million shoppers expected to hit the streets tomorrow, the one anticipated to turn out in the largest numbers are those between the ages of 18 and 36 - i.e., millennials. This is a disgrace. When the legendary...
Nov 25, 2013 | Arts and Entertainment, Gender and Sexism, mic
Published: mic (November 25, 2013) For those of you who didn't catch last night's episode of Family Guy, stop reading now. Major spoilers follow. For those of you who did watch, you were probably as surprised as I was to see the show kill off one of its main characters, Brian — the Griffin family's pretentious but tormented intellectual talking dog. The internet is abuzz with reactions to his...
Nov 22, 2013 | Conspiracy Theories, History, mic
Published: mic (November 22, 2013) Is conspiracy theorizing a problem? As America recognizes the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, the conspiracy theories continue to abound. Among the most prevalent are: - That he was murdered by the CIA as revenge for his post-Bay of Pigs personnel shake-up and/or his alleged plan to de-escalate the Vietnam War. - That he was murdered by...